Who inspired you to collect?

My two best friends. One introduced me to BJDs years ago and has several. The other slowly converted me by having them around the house. The combination of the two of them excitedly talking about new dolls made me realize I wanted one, too. The rest is history.

 

I'm another one whose mother always bought her dolls - I already had over two dozen before I even started school - but, I would have ended up a collector anyway. I was always a girly girl, interested in things like dolls/art/makeup/fashion. Now, I'm a girly thirtysomething, and no less interested.

 

I think as far as a specific person, I made my first doll purchase after a very generous friend allowed me to see her collection in person and handle her dolls. Prior to that I'd only seen pictures online. Being able to pose her dolls, see how they were made, and how they felt made me feel confident enough in my level of interest to buy my first doll. Without her, I probably would have remained an admirer, but not actually joined the hobby. ♥

 

Thanks for sharing how you got into the hobby! How I got into it is my uncle is a big toy collector. He collected star wars figures, super hero figures ect...but then he discovered Bjd’s! The 70cm ones. And it was very fascinating to him I guess to be collecting tiny figures to 70 cm ones. So he told me about his new dolls. From the beginning I thought they were so cool! He told me about ringdolls Halloween limited edition alfanso and I loved him! So I did a monthly layway on BJDivas and am currently still waiting on him. I can’t wait to get him he will be my first doll. The wait is killing me lol!

 

For me it was Andreja (Nicole’s Dreams) on YouTube. I was fascinated and in awe by her older videos showcasing her Minifees. I remember last year I rewatched her videos and said “that’s it, I’m getting Minifee!”

 

Dollightful on youtube! I watched her customize MH dolls and she eventually started showing BJD's, I believe he first one was one by Myou?? Don't remember lol!

 

My friend has a TON of dolls and she started talking to me about them. I did some research and asked her so many questions....now, a year later, I have 6 of my own.

 

I can't say a person inspired me, but I feel I may have gotten my intense liking of dolls and miniatures from my mom and grandma. My mom dabbled in doll making, soft fabric dolls, when I was a kid and I still have one she made. And grandma collected every. single. Department 56. north pole. house. ever. freakin. made! Her house at Christmas was decked out like a scene from a movie. My mom was really supportive of my hobby before she passed, I feel like if they'd been a thing in the 80's and 90's she could have fallen into the hobby too.

 

Talya Fyredancer, hands down. I used to follow her dolls on live journal (that dates this, right? Lol), which led me to tenshi_no_korin and some other collectors, and DoA.

And then when I spent a year in Japan in college, one of my roommates also had a couple of dolls. I already had interest, and my dorm was a short subway ride from Volks showroom, so between following the dolls online and actually seeing several of them in person, I ordered my first two dolls like two months later. I still can’t see some sculpts without remembering Talya’s dolls.

 

There was this person I found on flickr back in 2008 who I believed went by the name wedge/wedgeh... or some variant of that name. I fell inlove with their dolls and did a lot of research on bjd after that and learned about Kinoko Juice and instantly wanted one. Its been 10 years since then and I finally have my own Kinoko Juice Kiki and a Nia!!

 

I don't really remember who or what got me into wanting to collect BJDs, but I remember watching a lot of Andreja's (Nicolle's Dreams) faceups back in 2012 and got instantly hooked. I remember collecting other things like Nendoroids/Figmas, Pullips, etc to make up for the price of owning a $200+ BJD. After 10 years, I still really want to own my first one and hopefully (hehe) collect more dollies!

 

It was my close friend who had been dreaming of BJDs for literally years and then decided to finally buy one. That time I was collecting Tonner dolls and didn't want any BJDs, but finally here I am, several years of owning these beautiful creations only, all Tonner dolls sold long ago (although they are still beautiful too)

 

For me it was someone on deviantart that I stumbled across, and fell in love with her beautiful dolls and photography. I didn't know anyone in real life who collected dolls, so all my inspiration and support came from people I met online (I like to do things on my own anyway, so it was fine)

 

In my case, I met a girl on highschool who I shared a lot of interests with. One day she invited me to her house and her bedroom was populated by a bunch of Yo-SD and smaller BJDs! I couldn't resist to ask her about them and she pointed me towards several forums and webpages for me to start investigating. It still took me 3 years of research and gathering courage to take the leap of faith and choose my first BJD (which was a total failure btw but that didn't discouraged me xD).

 

I sort of found it out on my own. I am already an avid collector of many things, and happened to hear about BJDs from figure collectors. At first glance, I wasn’t crazy about them, but as I delve deeper into different people’s characters and sculpts, I found some that I really loved. This is when I started researching them and decided to go for it and buy one. I also like the idea of making my character come to life, and was inspired by doll customizers to make some of mine reality.

 

It was from my early days on DeviantART years ago. My favourite artist there was heise and she also happened to post photos of her Luts delfs. As soon as I saw them I wanted one. It was several years later though when I finally had the money to afford my first doll (a Luts moon).

 

I found bjds on my own. I think it was the Dream of Doll site that I stumbled across and I was just stunned that dolls could be so beautiful. I was a high school kid with no money so I just figured I’d never own one and I was also of the age that it would have been “weird” to be interested in dolls. Unfortunately, I didn’t really have any friends who were interested in them or inspired me to get one either.

 

I think I was born with the collector's gene because I've always liked to collect different things and no one in my family nor friend does that. So when I found out about BJDs I fell in love and waited until having enough money for them.

 

I have been a doll person all my life. I can't remember not owning dolls, ev er, in my whole life. I simply never outgrew them.

Still, as I grew older, I began to demand more from my doll companions. More realistic features, more articulation, more customization...I came across ABJDs almost around the same time the West became aware they existed, and I jumped in and never looked back.

 

It was a dear friend which introduced me to the Bjd Hobby, after I discovered Pullip Dolls. (we are collecting the same Dolls)